


My Little Bird

by FettsJetts



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, F/M, Mass Effect 3, battle of the citadel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2017-06-28
Packaged: 2018-11-20 01:28:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11325831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FettsJetts/pseuds/FettsJetts
Summary: In her last moment, she can't think of anything but her little girl and the only man she ever loved.





	My Little Bird

**Author's Note:**

> Shepard has a 14 year old daughter (Hannah, after Sheps mom), and Garrus took a shining to here from ME1 on. This is Shepard dying and thinking about them both.
> 
> I cried about this at 3am, please forgive me.

_"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry."_

_Shepard clutched the girl to her chest, her face buried in her red hair. Tears ran down her cheeks as she clutched onto her daughter, a hand holding onto her vibrant curls. The girl held onto her like her life depended on it, and maybe it really did. Her mother was going off to lead a war she had no business leading. She was a spitting image of Shepard, green eyes, red curls and all. She wanted to protect her from the galaxy falling apart around them, wanted to protect her from the Reapers, from the bandits and the slums around them. She wanted to protect her from everything bad in the galaxy, all while marching right into what she was protecting her from._

_"Momma, please. Don't go. Please, momma."_

_The agony in her voice broke her mother's heart, and made her grip her fist in her hair just a little tighter, and crush her into her chest just a little harder. Oh, did she want to. She wanted to take her child and run, as far and as fast as she could. Every instinct in her body told her thats exactly what she should do, to protect the only thing that mattered in her life. She wanted to tell her that she was right there, that she would never leave her, but she couldn't. She couldn't lie to her daughter again, she couldn't stack up on the lies she told her before._

_"I have to, baby girl. I have to do this. This is for you, so you can stay safe, so you can live and be happy. You have so much ahead of her, sweetheart, and I need you to make it there. I would give everything to see you grow up, but just knowing that will grow up, is more than enough for me."_

_Shepard wished to every God and deity out there that she didn't break down in front her daughter, but she did. Her voice wobbled initially, but she broke, and she cried for the memories she wouldn't get to make with her daughter. She'd been the start of her life, and she would be the end of it. She wasn't going to save this galaxy for anyone except the girl in front of her._

_"Don't you dare speak like that."_

_Garrus' voice scared both of them, and he wrapped his arms around both of them. If turians could cry, he would be, because he was holding two of the most important people in his life, and he may lose one of them, but he would be damned if she would try and say goodbye. Not like this._

* * *

 

Laying there, staring at the endless expanse of space, Shepard wished she had said more. She wished she had held Garrus in her arms one last time, and told him how much she loved him. How much she would miss waking up to the light of his datapad because she just couldn't  _stop_ working for just 5 minutes. How much she would miss how he would sit with Hannah in the crook of his arm, and read to her. How he taught her as much turian as a human could learn and didn't complain once about her terrible accent. 

Their daughter. She needed to remember that in her last moments. Garrus had done more than enough to show that he loved Hannah just as much as Shepard did. He showed that when he tucked her into bed, and made sure she was safe no matter what.

When she was gone, dead for two years, it was Garrus who stepped up and took care of the only piece of Shepard he had left. He took on the care of a 12 year-old human, with no experience because he loved her that much. He would have walked to the ends of the Earth to find Shepard, but instead, he took care of the only thing she cared about.

And Hannah...

 _Oh, Hannah._ Her baby, her love, and the only thing that she had left in the world. Shepard did this for her. Of everyone that asked her to save the galaxy, to stop the Reapers, the only one that mattered to her was Hannah. She was the one that had given meaning to Shepard's life so long ago, and she continued to make her life mean something. No title, no ship, no accomplishment would mean more to Shepard than her daughter. If anything came out of the decisions Shepard made, it was that her baby girl would grow up healthy, and happy, and never in danger. How long did she hold her in her arms when she pried her from the stasis pod's on the Collector ship? How long did Shepard rock and cry with her daughter because she thought she almost lost her to the same bastards who tore them apart once before.

And she didn't want her to just survive. She wanted her to live. She didn't want her to have this weight on her shoulders. She needed a free life, without impending doom hanging so close over her head. Her daughter deserved better than that. Her daughter deserved not just the world, but the whole damn Universe.

Her body started to go numb, and that was when Shepard was pulled back to the reality that she was dying. She wouldn't get to see Garrus again, and she wouldn't get to see her little girl grow up.

_And she couldn't remember what she looked like._

_No, no, she couldn't lose that. No._

_Her little girl._

_She had long red curls, bright green eyes. Freckles all across her cheeks._

_She smiled really big when Garrus ruffled her hair._

_But Shepard just can't quite put it all together. No! No! She couldn't lose that. She couldn't lose her daughter. Not like this._

_Hannah liked to hold her hand, even at 14. She liked to give her hugs, and kisses. She liked to follow her on the bridge. She liked to sit with Joker. She painted EDI's fingernails, and sat on Karin's desk when she did reports._

_She sang songs with Mordin in the lab. Mordin. Another family member her daughter didn't need to lose._

_Fuck, what did she look like she when grinned down at Wrex when riding on his shoulders?! When she taught Grunt to read?!_

Shepard can't feel her fingers, and feels like there's a massive weight on her chest, and she can't breathe anymore. She struggling to move her chest, to blink, to think of the warm smile to daughter gave her when she woke up in the morning. Her last breaths are spent gasping for just a few more seconds trying to immortalize her daughter's face.  _"Hannah... Hannah, baby, if you can hear me, I love you so much. Garrus is gonna take care of you, and he loves you just as much as momma."_ She'd desperately cried over the comm, hoping anyone would hear her before the Crucible blew up in her face.

_"I love you more, Momma."_


End file.
